When the “Laws of Fear” Do Not Apply: Effective Counterterrorism and the Sense of Security from Terrorism

• Author: William Shelby,Aaron M. Hoffman
• Date: 01 September 2017
• Published date: 01 September 2017
• DOI: 10.1177/1065912917709354
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912917709354

Political Research Quarterly

2017, Vol. 70(3) 618 –631

© 2017 University of Utah

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DOI: 10.1177/1065912917709354

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Article

The terrorism-related death toll is minor compared with

other health risks, but attacks are so threatening people

seek comfort in ill-advised security measures that do

more harm than good. Indeed, getting societies to engage

in self-injurious behavior while pursuing security may

explain why terrorism persists even though groups that

use it rarely get what they want.

Some say governments can help save people from

themselves. Leaders of Israel’s Likud party, for instance,

believe military operations against Hamas make Israelis

feel safer (Ganor 2005, 102). On the surface, this seems

like a reasonable conjecture. After all, robbing perpetra-

tors of their capacity for violence is a straightforward way

of making them less intimidating.

Many security analysts, though, are skeptical of gov-

ernment efforts to neutralize terrorism’s psychological

effects. Counterterrorism, they say, has the unintended

consequence of reminding people about threats. Instead

of providing reassurance, counterterrorism magnifies

people’s sense of danger.

Can governments escape this dilemma by engaging in

counterterrorism in ways that make people feel less threat-

ened by terrorists, or is insecurity counterterrorism’s inev-

itable by-product? In contrast with the skeptics, we argue

that counterterrorism efforts are not doomed to backfire

on the people they are designed to protect as long as

governments manage threats effectively. Insecurity results

from the sense that people cannot control their exposure to

danger (Rothbaum, Weisz, and Snyder 1982; Witte 1992).

Efficacious counterterrorism alleviates this problem by

demonstrating that governments are in control and can

check the threat of violence.

In three experiments, we demonstrate that information

about effective counterterrorism can reassure US citizens

about their security when the threat of terrorism is salient.

People exposed to information about effective counterter-

rorism express greater confidence in the ability of gov-

ernments to control terrorism and express less concern

about the odds of future attacks. Ineffectual counterter-

rorism efforts do not produce these effects.

Effective counterterrorism also decreases people’s

concerns about traveling to potentially dangerous loca-

tions. Insecurity breeds avoidance behavior, but people

who viewed presentations about Israeli Defense Forces’

(IDF) counterterrorism training exercises expressed

greater willingness to travel to Israel than those who did

709354PRQXXX10.1177/1065912917709354Political Research QuarterlyHoffman and Shelby

research-article2017

1Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

Corresponding Author:

Aaron M. Hoffman, Department of Political Science, Purdue

University, 100 North University St., West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.

Email: ahoffman@purdue.edu

When the “Laws of Fear” Do Not

Apply: Effective Counterterrorism and

the Sense of Security from Terrorism

Aaron M. Hoffman1 and William Shelby1

Abstract

We investigate how effective counterterrorism influences (1) confidence in government efforts to deal with

terrorism and (2) the sense of insecurity from attacks. Research on “heuristic judgments” implies information about

counterterrorism undercuts people’s perceived security from terrorism. Across three experiments, however, we

find that people who are exposed to information about effective counterterrorism express more confidence in

governments to protect citizens from future attacks and prevent future violence than those who did not receive these

treatments. People who receive information about effective counterterrorism also show greater willingness to travel

to locations where the risk of terrorism is prominent than those who are only exposed to material about terrorism.

Finally, we find that counterterrorism information does not inevitably undermine government efforts to reassure

people about their security. On the contrary, information about effective counterterrorism erased the effects of

exposure to information about terrorism in one study.

Keywords

terrorism, counterterrorism, fear appeals, reassurance, experiments